Difference between Chain store fabric and quilters grade
 

Explains a lot. Not sure if this was shared yet or not.
http://blog.keepsakequilting.com/201...grade-fabrics/

Article provided my MODA fabrics, which does distribute its fabric to "chain stores". The article is very informative about how fabric is constructed....and like almost any product on the market there is high end, reasonable and least expensive. And I will admit that I have a little of all those categories in my home, and in my sewing supplies/fabric......in my quilting, what and for whom, will determine the fabric quality invested in it......

thanks for sharing

Thanks for that, diamondee. I've always suspected that just from the feel of quilt shop fabrics compared to the feel of Joanns fabric. When I had worked with both, to me there was really no doubt that the better fabrics really were worth the price.

I think buying fabric is a lot like buying anything else. There is good enough, better, and best. You have to know the difference, what you can afford, and when/if it matters.

Thanks for sharing.

notice, if you will, please, the location of the article. LOL
a worthy vendor, to be sure, but they might not be objective. LOL

i grit my teeth whenever somebody says, "you get what you pay for."
isn't that the way it's supposed to work?

given the difference on the price labels, there had better be a significant difference between the quality of fabrics available in hard-wall stores - be they chains or LQS.

but ...

without the fabrics available at chain store prices, many thousands of quilters would be shut out of our craft/art.

most of the chain fabrics are of good enough quality that they provide value for the dollars spent. that is not always true of the fabrics found in LQS. i have been in more than one shop over the years in which discount grade fabrics are priced as high as the fancier brands on their shelves. at the very least they are priced a few dollars per yard higher than the prices charged for the very same [and i do mean identical in every way] fabrics in a chain store.

i am not criticizing either the LQS or the quilters who are lucky enough to buy only from LQS.
i am just saying that the fabrics from chain stores have their place in the quilting world.

Beautifully said Patrice. I've seen the exact same thing.

I also think the chain stores can offer better prices because of volume of sales, and perhaps some of the mfgrs do not want to contract with the big stores so they can get the higher price of the LQS? Wonder what the wholesale price of a bolt of say MODA costs the LSQ...how many yards in a bolt? Just another thought

Our local quilt shop fabric is about $10.98 a yard and more now. Walmart has some lovely Waverly prints for $3.98. Most of my fabric is not Walmart, but fabric I have bought online, on sale or at thrift stores. Moda is not going to tell you that anyone makes fabric as good as theirs.